Shielded electrical connector

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a shielded electrical connector comprising an insulating front housing part ( 2 ) and a plurality of juxtaposed contact lamellas ( 3 ), said contact lamellas ( 3 ) consisting of a mating contact portion ( 4 ) received in the front housing part ( 2 ), an intermediate portion ( 5 ) molded into an insulating material, as well as a rear contact portion ( 6 ) following said intermediate portion ( 5 ). According to the invention a rear housing part ( 1 ) is provided for shielding between the intermediate portions ( 5 ); said rear housing part a) receives the intermediate portions ( 5 ), b) separates the same from each other in said rear housing part ( 1 ) by continuous partition walls ( 10 ), and c) the rear housing part ( 1 ) is provided with a metallization layer for shielding.

The invention relates to a shielded electrical connector comprising aninsulating front housing part and a plurality of juxtaposed contactlamellas, said contact lamellas having a mating contact portion receivedin the front housing part, an intermediate portion molded intoinsulating material, as well as a rear contact portion extending awayfrom said intermediate portion, and a shield being provided between theintermediate portions of the contact lamellas as well as on the outsidesin the region of the intermediate portions.

Such a shielded electrical connector is known e.g. from EP 0 560 550 B1.

The shield for reducing crosstalk is realized in said connector by sheetmetal shielding plates inserted between the intermediate portions of thecontact lamellas as well as by sheet metal shielding plates on theoutsides in the region of the intermediate portions.

The shielding plates inserted between the intermediate portions have thedisadvantage that the dimensions of the connector are increased therebyand that the number of parts in assembling the connector is increasedconsiderably. In particular in case of shielded connectors with amultiplicity of contact lamellas (cf. e.g. FIG. 1 of EP 0 560 550B1),the shielding plates to be inserted between the intermediate portionscause an enormous increase in assembly expenditure.

It is thus the object of the invention to develop the shielded connectoraccording to the generic clause so as to simplify manufacture and reducethe assembly expenditure.

According to the invention, this object is met in that

a) the intermediate portions of the contact lamellas are received in arear housing part, and

b) the intermediate portions in said rear housing part are separatedfrom each other via continuous walls, and

c) the rear housing part is provided with a metallization layer forshielding.

Due to the accommodation of the intermediate portions of the contactlamellas in a rear housing part that is provided with continuous wallsbetween the contact lamellas, the contact lamellas, during assemblythereof, may easily be inserted into the rear housing part.

By providing the rear housing part with a metallization layer, an idealshielding effect is achieved between the intermediate portions of thecontact lamellas without additional components. The metallization layerdoes not only facilitate the assembly expenditure, but also provides forproduction of the shield at considerably lower costs.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the continuous walls of therear housing part extend as tar as into the region of the mating contactportions of the contact lamellas and are received in correspondingrecesses in the front housing part.

This measure also reduces crosstalk in the region of the mating contactportions.

Advantageously, the rear housing part has integrally formed thereon atop wall, a rear wall and at least one side wall. Due to this, thenumber of parts to be assembled is further reduced as the sheet metalshielding plates for the external shield are replaced by the top wall,the rear wall and the at least one side wall. Moreover, an optimumshielding effect is achieved as there are no abutment joints present asin case of composite shielding plates.

For obtaining an external shield also in the region of the matingcontact portions, it is advantageous that the top wall and the at leastone side wall extend across the front housing part and that a bottomwall connected to the rear housing part is formed in the region of thefront housing part as well. As both the top wall, the at least one sidewall as well as the bottom wall are provided with a metallization layer,an external shield is easily obtained also in the region of the fronthousing part and the mating contact portions of the contact lamellas,respectively.

For ground, connection to the mating plug or connector, the bottom andtop walls preferably have metallization strips press-fitted therein thatare connected to contacts.

When the electrical connector is utilized as a module connector, thebottom side of the rear housing part preferably is provided with pinswhich also have a metallization layer. These pins on the one hand serveto mechanically fix the electrical connector on the module and on theother hand for transferring the ground connection.

In the following, the invention will be described in more detail by wayof an embodiment shown in the drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows a sectional side view of the connector according to theinvention,

FIG. 2 shows a sectional view along the lines A—A of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view along the lines B—B of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 4 shows the electrical connector in the view according to FIG. 1 aswell as a side view of the corresponding mating connector.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional side view of the electrical connector accordingto the invention. This electrical connector consists of a rear housingpart 1 and a front housing part 2 as well as a multiplicity of contactlamellas 3 accommodated between the two housing parts. The contactlamellas consist of a mating contact portion 4 constituted by amultiplicity of contact springs. The mating contact portion 4constituted by the contact springs is followed by an intermediateportion 5 having insulating material injection molded therearound.Arranged on the insulating intermediate portion 5 is a rear contactelement 6 which serves for establishing contact with a circuit board ormodule 7 by way of a series of SMD, push-in or soldering contacts.

The module or package 7 is shown in broken lines in FIG. 1. The contactlamella 3 is surrounded completely by the rear housing part 1. The rearhousing part 1 consists of a top wall 8, a rear wall 9 and amultiplicity of continuous partition walls 10 between which the contactlamellas 3 are inserted. The continuous partition walls 10 of the rearhousing part 1 are visible in FIGS. 2 and 3 only. FIG. 2 shows asectional view along the lines A—A of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 shows asectional view along the lines B—B of FIG. 1.

The continuous partition walls 10 are not only formed in the region ofthe intermediate portion 5 of contact lamella 3, but also extend as faras between the contact springs of the mating contact portion 4. In thisregion, the partition walls 10 are formed to be considerably narrowerand are received completely in corresponding recesses in front housingpart 2.

The top wall 8 also extends beyond the contact springs of mating contactportion 4 and thus covers front housing part 2 having the contactsprings accommodated therein. On the bottom side, in the region of themating contact portion 4 or in the region where the front housing part 4is received in the rear housing part 1, there is formed a bottom wall11.

As can be seen from FIG. 3, bottom wall 11 is connected to top wall 8via the continuous partition walls 10 as well as via a side wall 12.

To prevent or reduce crosstalk between the individual conductive paths,the entire rear housing pare 1 is provided with a metallization layer.

In contrast thereto, the front housing part 2 is designed to beinsulating. However, as the rear housing part 1 extends over the fronthousing part 2 and the contact springs accommodated in the front housingpart 2, good shielding is ensured also in the region of the matingcontact portion 4 or between the contact springs.

Front housing part 2 consists of vertical webs 13 and a multiplicity ofhorizontal webs 14. Between the vertical webs 13 and the horizontal webs14 there are formed cavities 15 in which the contact springs of themating contact portion 4 are received in the assembled state. Thevertical webs 13 have corresponding U-shaped recesses (cf. FIG. 2) inwhich the metallized partition walls 10 of rear housing part 1 areintroduced in the assembled state. In assembling the electricalconnector, the contact lamellas 3 are just slidingly inserted into rearhousing part 1, and thereafter front housing part 2 is inserted intorear housing part 1, with the metallized partition walls 10 being slidinto the corresponding U-shaped recesses of front housing part 2 and thecontact springs are introduced into the respective cavities of fronthousing part 2.

In the region of intermediate portion 5, pins 16 are formed on thebottom side of the partition walls 10 of rear housing part 1. These pins16 are provided with a metallization layer as well and serve formechanical and electrical connection to module 7. To this end, the pinsare inserted into through-metallized holes in the module and solderedthereto e.g. by reflow soldering.

For ground connection to a mating plug or connector, the top wall 8 andthe bottom wall 11 each have a metal strip 16 press-fitted therein whichis slightly bent outwardly across a certain portion so as to beresiliently engaged upon mating thereof with a mating connector.

On the face side, metal strip 16 is provided on its protruding end witha rounded portion 17 so that insertion thereof into the mating connectoris facilitated.

FIG. 4 illustrates the electrical connector according to FIG. 1 alongwith a corresponding mating connector in a side view. The matingconnector is designed as backpanel connector 18, with the backpanel 19being shown in FIG. 4 in broken lines only. Backpanel connector 18 issubstantially of U-shaped construction and consists of a bottom wall 20as well as two side walls 21 and 22. Arranged in bottom wall 20 is amultiplicity of contact blades 23 having the same grid spacing as thecontact springs in the module connector.

The side walls 21, 22 have ground contacts 24 arranged on the insidethereof, which, upon insertion of the module connector, resilientlycontact the outwardly bent metal strips 16.

What is claimed is:
 1. A shielded electrical connector, comprising aninsulating front housing part and a plurality of juxtaposed contactlamellas, said contact lamellas each having a mating contact portionreceived in the front housing part, an intermediate portion molded intoinsulating material, as well as a rear contact portion extending awayfrom said intermediate portion, and a electrically conductive shieldbeing provided between the intermediate portion, the contact lamellas aswell as on the outsides in the region of the intermediate portions, theintermediate portions of the contact lamellas are received in a rearhousing part, the intermediate portions in said rear housing part areseparated from each other via continuous partition walls, the rearhousing is provided with a metallization layer for shielding, and thecontinuous partition walls of the rear housing part extending as far asto the mating contact portion received in said front housing part.
 2. Ashielded electrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the fronthousing part is provided with corresponding recesses into which thecontinuous partition walls can be slidingly introduced.
 3. A shieldedelectrical connector according to claim 1, wherein the rear housing partcomprises a top wall, a rear wall and at least one side wall.
 4. Ashielded electrical connector according to claim 3, characterized inthat the top wall and at least one side wall extend as far as over thefront housing part, and in the region of the front housing part there isalso formed a bottom wall that is connected to said rear housing part 1.5. A shielded electrical connector according to claim 4, characterizedin that the bottom wall and/or the top wall have a metal strippress-fitted therein that is connected to contacts.
 6. A shieldedelectrical connector according to any of claims 1 to 5, characterized inthat the bottom side of the rear housing part is provided with pins thatare provided with a metallization layer as well.
 7. A shieldedelectrical connector, comprising: an insulating front housing having afront and a rear face, said front face having an array of openings forthe receipt of a plurality of mating contact pins, and said housingbeing defined by a matrix of horizontal and vertical walls which definecontact receiving cavities opening on to said rear face, each saidvertical wall having a slot defined therein, extending inwardly fromsaid rear face; a plurality of contact members having mating contactportions received in said contact receiving cavities of said fronthousing part, intermediate portions and rear contact portions extendingaway from said intermediate portions, each said contact member beingarranged in a substantially planar array, and said plurality of saidcontact members being positioned in an orthogonally arranged manner; anda rear housing portion substantially enclosing said front housingportion, and said rear housing portion including orthogonally arrangedelectrically conductive shielding walls, having rear shielding portionspositioned intermediate to said contact members, and front shieldingportions positioned in said slots.
 8. A shielded electrical connectoraccording to claim 7, wherein at least the shielding walls of the rearhousing portion are provided with a metallized layer.
 9. A shieldedelectrical connector according to claim 7, wherein the rear housing partcomprises a top wall, a rear wall and at least one side wall.
 10. Ashielded electrical connector according to claim 9, wherein theshielding walls are integral with the rear housing portion, and the rearhousing portion, including the orthogonally arranged shielding walls,are provided with a metallized layer.
 11. A shielded electricalconnector according to claim 10, wherein the intermediate portions ofsaid contact members are overmolded with an encapsulating insulatingmaterial.
 12. A shielded electrical connector according to claim 11,wherein the rear contact portions are defined as printed circuit boardcontacts.
 13. A shielded electrical connector according to claim 12,wherein the rear contact portions are perpendicularly disposed relativeto said mating contact portions.
 14. A shielded electrical connector,comprising: a plurality of contact assemblies having mating frontcontact portions, intermediate portions and rear contact portionsextending away from said intermediate portions, each said contactassembly being overmolded with an encapsulating insulating material toenclose at least said intermediate portions, said plurality of contactassemblies being arranged in an orthogonally arranged manner; and ahousing member having a top wall, an end wall and side walls, said endwall having a plurality of orthogonally spaced electrically conductiveshielding walls extending forwardly therefrom, said shielding wallsbeing positioned intermediate said overmolded portions, providing crosstalk shielding between said contact assemblies.
 15. A shieldedelectrical connector according to claim 14, further comprising aninsulating front housing positionable over said front contact portions.16. A shielded electrical connector according to claim 15, wherein saidfront housing has a front and a rear face, said front face having anarray of openings for the receipt of a plurality of mating contact pins,and said housing being defined by a matrix of horizontal and verticalwalls which define contact receiving cavities opening on to said rearface, said vertical walls having a slot defined therein, extendinginwardly from said rear face to receive said shielding walls therein.17. A shielded electrical connector according to claim 15, wherein atleast the shielding walls of the rear housing portion are provided witha metallized layer.
 18. A shielded electrical connector according toclaim 17, wherein the shielding walls are integral with rear housingportion, and the rear housing portion, including the orthogonallyarranged shielding walls, are provided with a metallized layer.
 19. Ashielded electrical connector according to claim 14, wherein the rearcontact portions are defined as printed circuit board contacts.
 20. Ashielded electrical connector according to claim 19, wherein the rearcontact portions are perpendicularly disposed relative to said matingcontact portions, and extend downwardly from said overmolded portions.